My condolences Wordy
Nahh, you put all the effort in. I guess it wouldn’t be a secret Santa, but I’d be up for sending something for second Christmas 
(not that my parcel for the first has arrived, by the looks of things -_- )
And not for the first time… 
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 35 Amurrkin out and clear (as opposed to murky?) with a predicted high of 64 and N.O.S. for the day. Today will involve some prep irk for the feast. I promised a green bean casserole which I shall make fresh. None of that can o’ cream soup from me! I shall also make a sweet N.O.T. pie today. JDD and Partner are comin’ over and it will be just the four of us. Ham shall be the centerpiece along with the green bean casserole, squish casserole, collard greens (cookin’ those today as well), corn bread and pee-kahn and sweet N.O.T. pie. I intend to send them home laden with leftovers. Oh and we shall have cheese ring, crackers, and Bloody Mary’s to celebrate Jesus. Oh, and the dang fruitcake. I also plan on gettin’ in some sloth time today.
red glad you made it safe to Little Rock. Have a safe rest of your trip to Houston.
BooFae y’all have a safe and uneventful flight.
{{{Shady}}} just cause it looks like you could use a hug.
Nameless that sucks about the Secret Santa. Best of luck in keepin’ GG from “helpin’” the painters.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward to the kitchen and into the day! Rah.
Happy Thursday Y’all
Good morning everyone.
I’m glad your father’s passing was peaceful, wordy. I am very sorry. I am also sending best wishes for your mother.
LOVED the picture, hippy! I’m glad you and Triple B got to meet up. I greatly enjoyed meeting Mumpers and wish it could happen again.
Today I pick up the roast and Christmas Day menu items. I plan to be out of the house by 8:00 this morning. Then, I’ll come home, stow the food and get the last of my cleaning out of the way so that I’ll have to do is run the roll-suck early Saturday morning to pick up any Polar hair that hits the floor between today and Saturday. Polar blows a lot of coat, sigh. I have three more presents to wrap too, but I’m glad to say the hardest stuff is about over. Forgot to get my fat separator yesterday, so I’ll pick that up today too.
This gave me a giggle! 
That would certainly impress the housekeeper!
On the serious side - do you have a crate? George might yell, but at least he won’t be green.
At least you have a hotel to escape to. When we visit FCD’s folks, they’d be mortally insulted if we stayed anywhere else. At least they spare us FOX “News” while we visit.
Some years back, we went to a buffet that had flan, and tapioca. FCD mixed them together, creating flapioca! So every time I mention flan… 
Boy, do I know the feeling! We’ve got a short cruise booked in April and I am sooooooo ready to be aboard.
A bracing 25° in the yard this morning, and the high forecast in the low 40s. brrrrrrr! We (or I) will pick up Roxy around 10 for a visit to the marine museum, followed by a stop at Domino’s to pick up a free pizza that’s coming to me! Then Roxy will spend the night with us, so once home, I need to lay a fire in the basement so we can hang out there for a while.
After I get her to bed this evening, I’ll build the french toast casserole for tomorrow’s Christmas Eve brunch and gift-a-thon at our daughter’s place. My brother sent out an email to all, not quite threatening us if we show up at his house before noon. Yeah, we tend to be early. So we won’t be leaving for Baltimore before 10 on Christmas. Then on Sunday, we’ll head across the bay to the boat. Lots of miles on our cars these next few days.
Happy Christmas Eve Eve all!! 
I have been retired for 15 months. At the end of my job I was spending quite some time clearing out my work vehicle, making sure it was tidy, stocked with parts and material and most of all removing my personal items. The stereo was nothing special and I had an older compact iPod that I used when I was to far outside of the city to get good radio reception. This was also the iPod I used while fishing. A month after I retired I was packing up for the annual fishing trip and my iPod was no where to be found. I dug through my laptop bag, my gym bag, my back pack and tool chest to no avail… I remembered gathering up the iPod, the car charger and the cables and stuffing them somewhere, but I just could not remember where.
Last night I was tidying up my computer desk, where I spend quite q lot of my time. There is a glass candy dish with a lid next to the R2D2 coffee mug where I keep my pencils. In the past I have stored charging cables in it. Suddenly I noticed a yellow cable with a 3.5 mm jack on each end. AHA! This is the cable I used to plug my iPod into the aux jack of my work van stereo. I lift the lid and there, within arms length of the recliner where I sit for at least half of my waking hours, was the jack cable, the charging cable, the car charger and my mini iPod!
I am glad to find it but I surely feel stupid for spending 15 months occasionally trying to remember where I put this stuff while sitting right next to it. The iPod spent the night on the charger and now I need to sync it with the new playlists…
Happy Thorsday!
Am I ever a mess!
I get a text every morning from the bank telling me the balance. I saw my balance and thought that ain’t right. I scrolled back and saw my pay had been deposited. My son’s check too. I’m a little confused as to why we got paid a day early.
So, I’m telling my friend at the park and he says the banks are closed tomorrow. I said why? He said it’s a holiday. I said what holiday? Wondering why the Friday a week before Christmas is a holiday. He says Christmas Eve. I said, no, that’s next weekend.
OH!
I’m a week off.
I even have a doggie advent calendar and I know there are only two days left in it, and I know the dates are in the 20s, yet somehow it still hasn’t clicked in my brain - It’s Christmas!
I’m a mess.
It was a cold 23 degrees at the park this morning. We still had five people and seven dogs, including Barky. Barky wasn’t too terrible today, and it helped that some of the people were helping out to irk with Barky to get her to stop barking so much.
Got my stomach all in knots over nothing. I’ve been dreading the blowup, but maybe it will there won’t be one.
Except somebody else noticed she doesn’t pick up after her dogs, so there may be a blow up over that.
I need to talk to a friend today. We were talking last night and she mentioned that she bought some furniture at an auction. Then she said that she was worried that it won’t fit in her car and then she remembered that I have a truck, so problem solved, she will just borrow my truck. I thought, well, I don’t really want to, but she has been a good friend to me, so I guess I can do that. Then she says so Sunday night you can bring your truck over and leave it and you can take my car.
My mouth didn’t open, I was too taken aback, but my brain is screaming NO! NO! NO!
I am not comfortable driving other peoples’ cars, and NOBODY drives my truck. NOBODY!
I just don’t do that.
I don’t let family drive it. When OAOASO asked to borrow it, the answer was NO! He’s a trucker, he can drive anything, and no, he is not driving my truck.
Anytime somebody has asked to borrow my truck, my answer is, I’ll drive you.
I know my son will be driving it when he gets a license, and I will hate every minute of it, until he gets his own car.
Have a safe trip VanGo
Hope all goes according to plans BooFae
I hear you MetalMouse, my house is very quiet. I can enjoy a noisy and chaotic house for a little while, but then I want my quiet back. I hate when people have the TV on during a visit. I came to see them, not watch TV.
Whatever you do, don’t replace hazelnuts with Brazil nuts. My uncle just recovered from selenium poisoning from eating too many Brazil nuts.
Unknown, has you husband ever watched cats play? That little bit of hair pulled out by the double-sided tape is nothing compared to what two cats will do to each other.
I’m rather afraid if I ever get a house cleaner, I will want to impress them with my own cleaning skills. Which are hardly impressive.
I need somebody to come in and do the heavy stuff and the stuff that needs a step ladder.
I still look at
this house
and droll over all the woodwork.
Then I remember you have to clean all the woodwork, and all those cuts and carvings are nothing more than beautiful dust collectors.
It’s not practical for me, more house than we need. more irk that I need to do, and it needs irk.
I just hope it gets an owner that appreciates it, and not somebody who is going to cut it up and make apartments out of it.
Howdy all. At brother’s house, puppies are about to go out for a walk in the back (they have to be walked since their new house doesn’t have a backyard fence yet–due January). At least they have Star Trek on the TV this morning. Most of the time it’s there for background noise,most folks on on their laptops or Kindle or Ipod (we’re not much for conversation).
OK, on through the day.
{{{wordy}}}
BBBoo and Hippie, that pic made me smile! Yay for mini Mumper-fests!!
I took today off, in order to make for a 4-day weekend. I’ll be doing the same next week, as well. It is so nice to not be working or recovering from surgery! I’ve spent the past month doing one or the other (or both), but I’m finally feeling really good and my incisions are mostly healed. Woo hoo!
In about 4 hours, I’ll be having dinner with an old friend: we went to high school together, and hung out pretty regularly through our mid-20s. At some point she got married and moved to Hawaii, but she and her husband go back to Maryland each year for the holidays. Usually I drive up there to see them and some other friends who were in our “group,” but there’s no big gathering this year – which, honestly, is fine with me. My friend and her hubby are going to drive down here, and I’ll take them to one of my favorite local restaurants. We didn’t see each other last year (for obvious reasons), so I’m looking forward to seeing them this evening. The restaurant has two things I should be able to eat: I’ll pick one, have a couple of bites, and take the rest home.
Tomorrow evening I’ll go to my best friends’ house for dinner with them and their son (my “nephew”), and we’ll have our gift exchange. I’m really looking forward to that! They’ll be making steak and potatoes: I can’t have steak yet, but I’m planning to mash up 2 ounces of potatoes and just have that for my dinner. Screw the protein! 
I’ll bring a shake with me, though, and some nonfat “caramel apple pie” greek yogurt that tastes good enough.
On Christmas afternoon I’ll drive up to Baltimore to see my dad and brother. Because I’m still on a restricted diet, we agreed that the two of them will go out to lunch somewhere and I’ll meet up with them at Dad’s place afterwards. I’ll spend a few hours up there, which is about how long it’ll take us to get tired of being together.
Oh man, that reminds me of visiting my mom in assisted living while she was still alive: she always had either House or NCIS on. Always. My dad and brother and I still talk about it, six years later! LOL!
Ha! Well, I’m glad you found it.
I totally get it: I’m the same way with my car! Mostly because it’s a stick, and unless I’ve been in someone’s car while they were driving a stick I don’t trust them to not kill my clutch, but also I’ve just never let other people drive my vehicles. I’m comfortable driving other people’s cars/trucks/SUVs, though.
Holy wallpaper, Batman!! 
We may go to Fl next week. FCD is worried about his folks and with his surgery on Jan 3, he wouldn’t be able to travel till at least mid-Feb. I’m waiting for him to decide.
I decided to make a couple of pumpkin pies tonight, just because. The crusts are thawing and in a little while, I’ll get them started. For now, it’s My Little Pony with Roxy. Rah.
Yes, the wallpaper is a bit…MUCH!
But I could live with it.
Two punkin pies in the oven - they’ll be done in about 10 minutes.
And we’re going to drive to FL on Sunday/Monday. We’ll leave after lunch on Sunday and drive till we need to stop. That should get us to Ocala around lunch time on Monday. Then we’ll either leave Weds or Thurs afternoon - FCD will decide when we’re there - and take 2 days to drive back. He’s really worried about his folks and he won’t be up to a long drive till March…
Here’s hoping the roads won’t be too horrible on those days.
Chocoflan is done. I hope it comes out of the pan cleanly tomorrow. Much larger than I expected - it fills a bundt pan.
At 12:02 I received an email from El Jefe, informing everyone that we’re closing for the holiday at 12:01.
But there were a couple of discrepancies in some data, and I hadn’t heard from the member; so I called her, got the correct information, and finished up. Logged off at 12:32. I wonder if I get overtime? (Oh, yeah. I’m salaried.)
Howdy Y’all! Got a buncha cookin’/prep done today. Go Me! We went to the hog trough GC for the geezer late N.O,L./early sup deal. Geezer discount plus drink is included. We felt like royalty. I sampled OYKW’s fruit cake. The fact that it is doused with whisky makes it somewhat palatable. Thus is the news from swampland.
I bought a bucket.
I’ve named it Charlie.
Pizza has been ingested. Domino’s screwed up and gave FCD Garlic Parm wings instead of the BBQ wings I ordered (the box was labeled correctly. Plus they missed their 2 minute carside delivery guarantee, so free pizza!
We’ll be having punkin pie and cool whip in a little bit. Yum!!
HVAC dude came today and fixed our heating problem. Got off at only $383, including parts (blown capacitor on the heat pump). He was trying to upsell us for a new furnace, but I wasn’t born yesterday. Especially since we’re hoping to move in the next couple of years. Let someone else deal with it.
Evening all. Took the family out for an early dinner, nice local place with “reasonable” prices and good food. Now back in the house for a few hours then back to the hotel. Such an exciting life.
Cookie, glad you got heat…at a price.
FCM, safe travels for next week. Hope the traffic isn’t to bad.
Oopsie, enjoy your visits with friends.
And that’s all from the Rat. All y’all take care.
He was 35 when we met and besides his childhood dog he didn’t have pets in his life. He’s always been a bit soft when it comes to the cats and he’s gotten worse over the years.
Having a housekeeper really changed hub’s habits. He used to just leave his mess wherever knowing that I’d clean it up when I got tired of looking at it. Now that he’s faced with the choice of cleaning up his own mess or PAYING someone to do it for him, he’s gotten a lot neater.
Pam is great, she dusts the ceiling fans and all of my dust-catchers and does the floors and bathrooms. Every six months she does the windows. I have to be sure not to leave laundry in the dryer because I don’t want to pay her to fold it. She’s wonderful and well worth the money.
Drive safely and wear your patience panties. Traffic will be thick.
That’s not bad at all. We have a heat pump and have to pay over a hundred a year just to have it serviced.
Yesterday our housekeeper asked me to make her some cottage cheese for Christmas (we all feast in our own way) so I extracted many promises from hubs to not let George help the painters and went to surplus produce because I was going to be going to town anyhow.
After picking up my boxes (which included a turkey, some potatoes, a couple of microwave cups of mac and cheese, a couple of pounds of cheddar cheese and a bunch of bags of salad (and other stuff we don’t use) I came home to pick out what we wanted and George was WAILING. There were people and they were doing things. Unsupervised!!! Hubs was very distressed, so I put George and VBC in the catio and locked the kitty door, then I closed the laundry room door to muffle his cries.
The drive to town was horrible, traffic was terrible and everyone was rude and impatient. Going into the grocery store for buttermilk was worse. If I didn’t need it for the cottage cheese I wouldn’t have even tried to find a parking spot in the packed lot and as it turned out there was no buttermilk to be had. I couldn’t bring myself to go into the more popular grocery store so I tried a couple of other even smaller places before giving up.
I don’t have dried buttermilk culture, but I do have kefir starter. Buttermilk is what gives cottage cheese a bit of a tang, kefir might work. Maybe. I don’t have time to culture kefir and then cook the cottage cheese before Christmas, so I guess Pam will have to wait until after she comes back from her cruise.
It’s not that I’m too busy to do it, even soft cheeses need time to culture. Cottage cheese takes 6-7 hours by itself. I guess I’ll order some dried buttermilk culture, even if the shortage at the store was a blip, I should probably have some on hand just to avoid having to go to the grocery store on Christmas eve eve.
That would mean he’s gotten better over the years!.